


First Position

by who_won_the_race_back_home



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/F, polyamory can solve a lot of problems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-21 23:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13751835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/who_won_the_race_back_home/pseuds/who_won_the_race_back_home
Summary: Ever since the time loops, Zari hasn't been able to sleep, so she's taken to practicing the violin at odd hours. One night, Amaya stumbles upon her.





	First Position

Zari had once heard that it took 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything. She had no idea how many time loops she had gone through under Gideon’s influence. Hundreds? Thousands? Enough that while she wasn’t an expert violinist, she was pretty damn good. 

She had always wanted to learn to play an instrument. The whole dystopia situation had made that difficult, though. Behrad had once scavenged an incredibly beat up guitar from a junkyard. It would barely stay in tune for more than a few minutes at a time, but he played it every chance he got, plucking out simple melodies and learning by ear as best he could. He was never great, but he loved playing that stupid guitar so much.

Whenever they had lost someone, or faced a setback, or just had a shitty week, his favorite thing to do was play Zari the lullabies their parents sang to them when they were kids. But he would do like one of the absolutely terrible punk bands he loved to listen to. A.R.G.U.S had managed to stop a lot, but they had underestimated a city’s worth of teenagers’ desire to get mp3s. And Behrad listened to the harshest, lo-fi punk, the kind that sounded like was recorded in a tin can. So he would play their childhood lullabies as fast and loud as he could until Zari was doubled over laughing, or someone was telling them to keep it down unless they wanted to get fried by A.R.G.U.S. bots.

She didn’t want to learn to play guitar.

It had been a couple weeks since the whole...ordeal with the time loops, and Zari’s sleep schedule had gotten completely screwed up, mostly in that she didn’t sleep much at all anymore. Gideon had offered her a sleep aid, but she was still wary. Even if Gideon had good intentions, she wasn’t totally trusting of anything they might put in her body. Besides, every time Zari finally managed to nod off, it would just be dreams of the loop again.

So she had taken to hiding out in the storage room and playing, or practicing was probably more the word. Because she was trying to get better, and learning to read sheet music, although that was the worst part. In with the violin, there had been a bunch of music, mostly written out by hand. Zari wondered if it had belonged to some great composer and she was trying to play their unpublished masterworks. Maybe. Regardless, they sounded nice.

Flipping through the pages, she found the one she had gravitated towards the past couple of nights. It was pretty simple, but it sounded beautiful, sparse and a little sad. Then she picked up the bow and began to play. It was easy to get lost in the music, to let it get her out of her head.

“That’s beautiful.”

Zari jumped, digging the bow into the strings and making a horrific screech. She turned and it was Amaya standing in the doorway, a little rumpled in her ridiculous pajama set, like something out of one of the old movies Ray had made her watch.

“Shit, you scared me.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Amaya said, walking over and looking at the sheet music.

“You just–we should get you a bell or something. You’re just super quiet.”

Amaya laughed softly. “You know, my mother used to say the same thing.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Zari unsure what to do with herself. She moved to go put the violin away, but Amaya stopped her with a hand on her wrist.

“No, it sounds lovely. Don’t stop on account of me.”

“I’m sorry if I woke you up,” Zari said. “I haven’t been sleeping, so, uh, I’ve been practicing the violin.” She waved it a bit, as if it wasn’t obvious what she had been doing.

“You didn’t. I actually was having trouble sleeping myself,” Amaya said. “I was going to the kitchen, but then I heard the music and thought it was maybe Sara playing some of Rip’s old records, but I found you instead.” She smiled softly at Zari. “I didn’t realize you played.”

“I don’t.” Amaya gave her a curious look. “Or, I guess, I didn’t. Um, when I was in the time loop, there was just a lot of them that I ended up goofing around because I wasn’t getting anywhere, and I found this,” she said, holding up the violin again. “And I decided I wanted to learn how to play, so I spent, like, a bunch of them learning to.”

“Wait. Sara and Ray said that you were just feeling side effects from whatever it is that powers Gideon, that you spilled all over yourself,” Amaya said.

“Well, no one believes me, but I didn’t know how to play the violin before. Gideon won’t admit to it, but they put me in the loop. And it’s fine, like, we both know it happened,” Zari said, maybe a little louder than she needed to. Gideon remained silent. “But Ray’s convinced Sara I’m just making it all up and–”

Amaya grabbed her free hand. “No, I believe you.”

“Oh,” Zari said, a little shocked. “Cool. Uh, thanks.”

Amaya let her hand go, and Zari fought her instinct to grab it back. But now unsure what to do, she tucked her hand into her pocket and awkwardly held the violin with the other.

“I’m sorry I interrupted you. You sound lovely,” Amaya said before turning towards the door.

“No, no, it’s totally fine.” She checked her watch. “It’s actually almost time for me to go pray, so really, you did me a favor, knocking me out of my, uh, zone, or whatever.”

“Well then, happy to help.” Amaya walked back over from the door and kissed Zari on the cheek. “I hope you’ll let me hear you play sometime.”

Tucking her arms over her chest, Amaya walked back out the door and into the halls of the ship.  Zari nearly tripped over her own feet putting the violin away.

“Seems like my ministrations weren’t so bad after all, were they?” Gideon’s voice chimed from overhead.

“I swear, I will figure out a way to kill you. Don’t know how yet, but I will find it.”

“I look forward to the challenge, Miss Tomaz.”

“I’m sure you do, freak ass robot,” Zari muttered under her breath as she headed back to her quarters.

**Author's Note:**

> Zari Tomaz is my new sun and stars, and you can fine me yelling about her on tumblr at [angrypedestrian](http://angrypedestrian.tumblr.com).


End file.
